KOTA KINABALU: A father of four children will spend Hari Raya Adilfitri behind bars after he pleaded guilty to robbing three women in their room at a resort in Kinarut.
Sessions Court judge Dean Wayne Daly imposed a four-year jail term on Mohd Nazib Mohd Wata, 29, after he pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge under Section 392 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 14 years and liable to a fine or whipping, upon conviction.
The accused was charged with committing the offence on March 16 at 4am after he was found in possession of a purple Sony Cyber Shot digital camera and three Samsung handphones.
In pleading for a lenient sentence for his client, defence counsel Sharzali Asli submitted that the accused is jobless, has no alternative income and is incapable of financially supporting his family and his unemployed wife.
Sharzali also revealed that the accused is heavily reliant on his 70-year-old father, who is currently holding a native chief representative post and earns a salary ranging between RM600 to RM800, which is not sufficient to support the latter’s own family.
During mitigation, Sharzali also stated that a harsh penalty on the accused would mean that the children would have lost a father figure and this would be detrimental to the development of his children.
The accused, now serving sentence for another offence, pleaded for consideration the repercussions of his wrong-doing would have on them and asked for a sentence that befits Ramadan, a month of introspection and forgiveness.
The defence also stated that the accused had been incarcerated for four to five months and asked for the sentence to be served from March 16 which is the date of arrest.
Deputy public prosecutor Chan Qin Yee, in rebuttal, stated that robbery is a serious and a rampant offence. She called on the court to consider the interest of the public and the impact statement of the three victims.
“The law is the law, a person must be held accountable for what he has done,” said Chan.
The prosecution also considered that a deterrent sentence would serve as a lesson to the accused and deter would-be offenders from committing similar offence.